Senior JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar today criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for "going back" on promises about black money and special category status for Bihar and urged people not to fall in the "trap" of BJP during the Assembly polls next year
Bettiah (Bihar): Senior JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar today criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for "going back" on promises about black money and special category status for Bihar and urged people not to fall in the "trap" of BJP during the Assembly polls next year.
"What happened to promises of providing Rs 15-20 lakh in the accounts of every poor by bringing back black money
stashed off shore by 'chor-lootero' (swindlers)? Modijee, the poor are asking now if this amount will come by way of cheque or cash!" Kumar said launching his statewide "Samparak Yatra".
ADVERTISEMENT
JD-U leader Nitish Kumar
Audio clips of Narendra Modi's speech and those of Rajnath Singh and yoga guru Ramdev containing the promises
made by them during the last Lok Sabha election were played during the yatra. "More than 150 days of the new government are over and people are still waiting for the return of the black money, he said.
After the Supreme Court took the government to task, a list of people having accounts in foreign banks was submitted,
but now it is coming to light that more than half of these accounts were empty and in many cases the name of one person
is figuring at many places, Kumar said.
The former Bihar Chief Minister also slammed Modi and BJP for not fulfilling promises of providing special category
status to Bihar once the party came to power at Delhi. Another audio clip of Modi's speech during campaign in the last Lok Sabha election, promising Bihar a special package, special status and special attention was played during the yatra.
"In place of special attention, the BJP government has now cut down allocation for Bihar under the Indira Awas yojna, MGNREGA and Prime Minister Gramin Sadak Yojna," he pointed out.
Accompanied by state JD(U) President Basistha Narayan Singh and senior party leaders, Kumar launched a blistering
attack against BJP, with which he had acrimoniously parted ways. He contested BJP's appeal to the people to elect the
party in the coming Assembly poll on the ground that the BJP government at the Centre could facilitate the growth process in the state.
"Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Bihar prospered under state governments ruled by opposition parties
when Congress-led UPA was in power in Delhi," he said. "Remember, BJP had promised during the poll campaign that
it would fix Minimum Support Price (MSP) of their produce at a rate which would be one-and-a-half times more than the input cost. But, has it come about?" he questioned.
He alleged that youths were lured by promising employment opportunities, "but the truth is that the Union government has
closed recruitment for jobs for one year". Describing BJP as a party of "power-hungry people", Kumar made fun of Modi's "Acheche din" (good days) promise, saying the promise has not come for the common man, but it has definitely benefited "jhardu" (broom) whose price has moved up in view of the "showpiece" cleanliness drive.
The "Samparak Yatra", aimed at galvanising JD(U) workers towards working for the coming polls, will end on November 29. The start of the yatra from Bettiah was significant as Mahatama Gandhi had launched his "satyagrah" from Champaran.
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
